Sat, Apr 17 from 5:30pm – 7:30pm
MOCA invites you to the book launch of award-winning author Ed Lin’s third novel, Snakes Can’t Run (Minatour Press), the sequel to This is a Bust, and a reading by Wendy Lee, author of Happy Family (Black Cat).

Introductions by B.D. Wong who will moderate a Q&A with Wendy and Ed after the readings.
Snakes Can’t Run
It’s a hot summer in New York’s Chinatown in 1976 and Robert Chow, the Chinese-American detective son of an illegal immigrant, takes on a new breed of ruthless human smugglers — snakeheads — when two bodies of smuggled Chinese are found dead under the Brooklyn Bridge overpass. But as Robert comes closer to finding some answers, he discovers a dark secret in his own family’s past.
Ed Lin is the author of Waylaid and This Is a Bust. Both books were published by Kaya Press, in 2002 and 2007, respectively, and both were widely praised. Lin, who is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win two Members’ Choice Awards in the Asian American Literary Awards. Lin lives in New York with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung.

Happy Family
When Hua Wu arrives in New York City, her life seems destined to resemble that of countless immigrants before her. She spends hectic days working in a restaurant and lonesome nights in a tenement house, yearning for those she left behind. But when Hua meets Jane Templeton and her two-year-old daughter Lily, who was adopted from China, everything changes. Jane hires Hua to be Lily’s nanny, and soon Hua finds herself in a world far removed from the crowded streets of Chinatown. But when cracks show in the beautiful façade of Jane’s family, what will Hua do to protect the little girl who reminds her so much of her own past?
Wendy Lee is a graduate of Stanford University and New York University’s Creative Writing Program. She worked for two years in China as a volunteer English teacher and now lives in New York City. Her first novel, Happy Family, was named one of the top ten debut novels of the year by Booklist and recently won an award from the Association of Asian American Studies. The recipient of a MacDowell Colony fellowship, she is currently working on her second novel.
Admission: $10; $7 student and senior; Free for MOCA member. RSVP at education@mocanyc.org.